Former Texas star Sam Ehlinger getting 1st team reps as Colts rookie QB
Sam Ehlinger is already taking first-team reps during his rookie training camp with the Indianapolis Colts. With uncertainty surrounding injured starter Carson Wentz, it looks like the Colts are preparing the former Texas Longhorns star for the starting position.
We are just a few days removed from Colts head coach Frank Reich saying that Ehlinger won’t be getting first-team reps anytime soon, so this is a significant development.
“Fair question, because he’s looked good, but right now, our plan has just been to put Jacob in the driver’s seat,” Colts head coach Frank Reich told the Indy Star when asked about the rookie Texas quarterback. “It’s a competition, but right now we’re comfortable with the plan that we have.”
The Indianapolis Star elaborated on the Colts’ plan when Wentz went down: “For the moment, the Colts are sticking with Jacob Eason taking the starter’s snaps at quarterback with Carson Wentz out of action due to surgery to remove a loose piece of bone from his foot. Eason, the team’s 2020 fourth-round pick, has taken every snap with the first-team offense since Wentz went down”
Still, the Ehlinger has caught the eye of everyone who has been following the Colts.
“But rookie quarterback Sam Ehlinger has been calm and consistent throughout training camp, completing 68.3% (56 of 82) of his passes,” Indianapolis Star insider Joel A. Erickson wrote.
The former Longhorns’ star fell to the 6th round in the NFL Draft, but the Colts scouting department provided keen insight into why they selected him.
Ehlinger impressed Colts scouts
This is a telling quote from Colts’ area scout Anthony Coughlan, posted on the team’s official site.
“He’s got the “it” factor. To me, it’s the physical, mental toughness, the drive to push when it gets hard just to figure it out, problem solve and find a way to gut it out and win. And he’s done that time after time there. And he’s got a really unique story just with growing up with his family, really tough with his father, and became the man of the house at a young age and he really just carried that throughout his life and continued to conduct himself in a professional manner through high school, through college. Excited to see what he does here.”
It will be interesting to see if Ehlinger can win over the starting job.